Cigna Chief Medical Officer Takes Top Job At Walgreens

October 12, 2011|By MATTHEW STURDEVANT, msturdevant@courant.com, The Hartford Courant

Cigna's chief medical officer, Jeffrey Kang, is taking a job at Walgreens as senior vice president of health and wellness services and solutions.

Kang starts Monday, Oct. 31, and he will report to CEO Greg Wasson and Kermit Crawford, president of Walgreens Pharmacy, Health and Wellness. Walgreens had $72 billion in sales last year and operates 7,779 drugstores in the U.S.

 "Jeff comes to Walgreens after a long and diverse career in the healthcare industry," Crawford said. "He has experienced the industry from all sides — as a practicing physician, from inside government and in the private sector. With his extensive background in health care, Jeff has the breadth of experience and strategic insight to lead our health and wellness businesses, building a dynamic organization that helps us meet customers' needs for access to quality, affordable healthcare."

Kang, 55, was responsible for health strategy and policy for the Bloomfield-based health insurer's medical, pharmacy and behavioral products. He also was responsible for Cigna's pay-for-performance programs, patient-centered medical home and accountable care organizations.

Before coming to Cigna in 2002, Kang was chief clinical officer at the Health Care Financing Administration, which is now Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, from 1998 to 2002. He was chief medical officer for the federal Office of Managed Care from 1995 to 1998.

Kang holds an M.D. from the University of California at San Francisco and a master's in public health from the University of California at Berkeley. He holds a bachelor's degree from Harvard.

Kang was on the faculty at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School from 1984 to 1994.